1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a panel through which a heating or cooling fluid circulates for heat conditioning an electrical, electronic or other item of equipment which is also mechanically mounted by means of the panel.
The invention is more particularly, although not exclusively, directed to panels which are part of cabinets or racks on board vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft and containing various electronic equipment units within a confined space. In practice the heat conditioning of such equipment consists in powered cooling to eliminate the considerable heat generated by the operation of electronic equipment in a confined space.
The mechanical mounting of the equipment involves immobilizing it at given locations in order to avoid any risk of damage through impact during maneuvers of the aircraft or spacecraft on board which it is installed. Given the aerospace context, these thermal and mechanical functions must be achieved with minimal mass.
More generally the invention is directed to all fields in which it is necessary to immobilize equipment mechanically and to heat condition it (by cooling or heating it) within a confined space and with minimal additional mass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
French Patent No. 2,294,417 discloses a support and heat exchange panel through which fluid circulates internally. It includes two stacked metal plates between which there is a constant spacing and which are joined together in a fluid-tight manner along their periphery, so delimiting a hermetically sealed space. The panel has a plurality of internal baffles perpendicular to the plates holding them apart and dividing the aforementioned space into a set of juxtaposed channels connected alternately in series at their ends to form a labyrinth. Fluid inlet and outlet means are provided at the ends of the set of juxtaposed channels. Panels of this kind can be used as cooling or heating equipment shelves, in particular in deep-freezing, sublimation or freeze-drying equipment operating in a vacuum.
One such type of panel has the drawback of being complex to manufacture (numerous components to be assembled blind) and heavy (a considerable fraction of its volume is metal, in the examples considered here stainless steel).
A panel of this kind also raises problems of sealing since it is the panel as a whole which constitutes the space within which the channels are defined, which rules out very high fluid pressures and, therefore, transfer of large quantities of heat. A further consequence of this structure is that in practice it rules out the use of screws to fix any unit because it is virtually impossible to drill holes without compromising the seal and this is neither described nor suggested in this prior art patent. A panel of this kind must, therefore, be restricted to simple terrestrial support applications.
The same kinds of drawbacks apply to French Patent 2,083,700 which discloses a sealed heating panel formed of two plates welded together along their edges and then deformed. Also, there is no particular mechanical requirement stated, only a thermal function being discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,523 and French Patent 2,647,198 describe heat exchangers using fluids; the exchanger panels disclosed in these references have no support function.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,181 concerns both the cooling and the mechanical support of electronic components but its teaching is restricted to components of small size because the mechanical support consists in confinement in an enclosure. The components are in practice distributed within tubes in turn confined within the enclosure. This patent is, therefore, of highly specific application.
European Patent 302,641 concerns the cooling of small size electronic microchips. Cooling is provided by a cooling plate disposed over an array of microchips, with given specifications, the plate including a heat exchanger peg or piston above each microchip. Apart from its complexity, the cooling plate has no mechanical function because it and the microchips are supported by a substrate.
Finally, in the space field, thin radiators carried by panels are known. Reference may be had to:
"A new Generation of Radiators"--AMIDIEU, BERTHON, MACIAZSEK--20th International Conference on Environmental Systems--Jul. 9-12, 1990, Williamsburg, Va.; or
"Radiator Conceptual Studies for the HERMES Spaceplane--AMIDIEU, FORET, SIBILO--3rd European Symposium STC & LSS, ESA/ESTEC, 3-6 Oct. 1988; or
"Development of Heat Exchangers for Hybrid Radiators"--AMIDIEU, LAFON--same conference as above.
These radiators embody two parallel manifolds joined together by a large number of parallel tubes running along a radiating surface to which they are fixed. In practice the manifolds are extruded. The radiators are either attached or integrated into an exterior wall designed to be exposed to vacuum: because of the radiating surface, these radiators reject heat into the vacuum of space. Also disclosed is a radiator with heat pipes and condensers, the heat pipes exchanging heat with the condensers and with the radiating surface being disposed between the condensers and the radiating plate.
However, these radiators have no equipment mechanical support or securing function.
An object of the invention is to solve the following technical problem, which is not addressed by the aforementioned documents: to enable the supporting and the fixing of equipment (in particular electronic modules) of any shape and the heat conditioning thereof by means of low-mass panels adapted to be incorporated in racks or cabinets and having very good mechanical strength and a high heat transfer capacity.